Re: pbulk using tmpfs

[Taylor R Campbell <campbell+netbsd-tech-kern%mumble.net@localhost>]

   Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:47:59 +0200 (CEST)
   From: iMil <imil%home.imil.net@localhost>

   My question is: how will tmpfs behave? If I mount the WRKOBJDIR
   without any argument, it will "use", if I understand correctly
   the manpage, all of the available memory. Does this mean I will
   end up in a situation were the system memory will be filled by
   the build or is there some kind of smart mechanism within tmpfs
   which will "overflow" somewhere?

If you run out of RAM it will swap file data (although not metadata).
If you want to limit the amount of space in a tmpfs, of course, you
can use the -s option.

I have run pbulk builds on tmpfs on with 32 GB of RAM and 64 GB of
swap, using up to 16 pbulk slaves on the same machine (in separate
chroots), with no problem.  I don't think anything ever swapped,
either -- the amount of swap was an excessive overabundance of
caution.  I probably set a limit of 72 GB or something on the tmpfs in
which I stored the WRKOBJDIR.